Ministry of Education and other LIT's

Ministry of Education and Other LIT’s (Lost in translation)

Before we go to court we must all go before the MOE for interrogation as a precursor to court. We got a call from Natalia our translator on Sunday afternoon that our meeting with the MOE was at 3:30 that day, yes on a Sunday, go figure. So we all got in our dress clothes and headed over. Jeff and Megan went in first and were in there about 10 mins. They came out saying it was easy with no real tough questions. We were next. There were three people, one man, and two women who were not the friendliest looking big Russian women. They asked us the typical questions, how much money do you each make, what is your mortgage and where do you work. Then they asked why we were adopting seeing that we already have a child. People here do not have more than one or2 kids because they cannot afford it. They wanted to know why Kazakhstan and not the US. Then they asked if we had heard anything about people adopting children from Russia and killing them. Those were actually the exact words. We were shocked. Then they asked if we had any family members in need of a transplant. They also wanted to know if Sophia knew about our plans and had any say in our decision to adopt. One woman suggested that we wanted to adopt just to get a toy for our biological daughter. A pretty expensive toy if you ask me. Overall, it went well but they definitely asked a lot of bizarre questions. Dan and Kathleen were next and they focused on his being a police officer. They asked him if he must obey the same laws as everyone else. I guess here everyone is corrupt and law enforcement gets away with whatever they want- I guess it is not too different in the US. We all went to dinner after with Natalia to a Middle Eastern rest and thank God, she ordered for us. We tried many traditional Kazak dishes including horse, yes that’s right, horse. It is a favorite here and usually the most expensive thing on the menu. We all tried it and it was certainly edible but I don’t think I could eat a lot of it and I would never have it again. The rest of the food was very good. Last night we went to a pizza place at the mall. We had had lunch there last week, the waitress spoke English, and the pizza was very good so we figured we would try again. We have had dinner in the rest here so much that we are getting pretty sick of it. The food is good but depending on the chef that night the dishes are always different each night so you are never quite sure what you will get. Anyway, we get to the pizza place and of course, our waitress does not speak a bit of English and neither does anyone else in the place so we point to a picture of pizza and hold up 4 fingers for 4 pizzas. Then we wanted 2 plain and 2 with chicken. She didn’t understand the chicken so I start imitating a chicken with the flapping wings and bahk,bahk and all and she understood chicken. We said 4 pizzas, 2 with chicken- bahk bahk- and 2 nyet chicken. We were very proud of ourselves. Well we got our 4 pizzas but they were all the same and all had chicken, olives, ham and peppers but that was OK. They were very good. Well we finish our pizza and they clear the table and bring out clean plates and silverware. Megan says “I have a feeling we are getting more pizzas” which we could not believe that they would actually think we would want 8 pizzas. Well they didn’t bring out more pizzas but 2 whole, cooked chickens!!! I guess our Russian is worse than we thought. So we are all havening leftover chicken tonight. It has to be the funniest thing that has happened to us since we got here. From now on, we have to remember to bring our dictionary with us. Its Tuesday here and we are so ready to come home. Can’t wait to see everyone! Love Tee and David